MFS62

Wanted to put this in the 2006 quotes thread. But since this was by a writer, not a player. I think it goes here.Enjoy,Later]"It's true (Kenny) Rogers was suspended last year for assaulting a cameraman. But around the same time, the Tigers traded Ugueth Urbina, who is awaiting trial on charges that he was part of a group that attacked five men with machetes, doused them with gasoline and set fire to them for stealing one of his guns. So on balance, the staff is not as violent as it used to be." -- Detroit Free Press writer Michael Rosenberg

="Elster88"]Oops. Didn't mean for a whole thread to be started. As they say on Law and Order, "you can't un-ring the bell". Later

cooby wrote: That's kinda neat how they got that picture of those people there before it's been built Consider it a deja vu preview. You have to see it before you can deja it. Later

I wonder if those plans have been submitted to MLB for their approval. MLB rules state that any new ballpark must ahve fould line distances of st least 330 feet. They would need a waiver from MLB to build it this way, no matter how high that wall is in right field. And "exposed iron work". That should could get rusty real fast. Sounds like a lifetime annuity for the local painter's union. Later

Yancy Street Gang wrote: Ouch. Give up a few runs and you get neutered. Sheesh! Many Mets fans would gladly donate a rusty can opener for the task. Later

Edgy DC wrote: Lesson to young Mr. Bannister. With a four-run pad, be willing to risk a one-run single in order to avoid a three-run homer. His dad should have told him that. Did anyone hear the WFAN interview with Brian's dad before the game? I just caught the end of it. What did he say? LAter

Bannister 3.5 Delgado 2 Beltran 1.5 Wright 1 Nady 1 Heilman 1 Later

Some comments: I was surprised by the CERA rankings. They show that Charlie O'Brien wasn't as statistically good a defensive catcher as the reputayion for being one that kept him in the majors for so long. He uses certain batter stats to calculate the effectiveness of a catcher, but I didn't notice ERA. IIRC when Piazza came to the Mets it was reported that the ERA of his staffs in LA had about a haf a run lower ERA when pitching to Mike than it was when the same pitchers threw to his replacement receivers. I would have liked to have seen a similar comparison with the catchers who were rated highly using CERA. Two of the lower rated catchers, Parrish and Stanley were moved to other positions (1B, DH). I guess their managers didn't need the CERA to know that they weren't that good defensively. The list of guys who started out as catchers and were moved before they could amass the number of games to qualify for his evaluation includes Rico Carty, Joe Torre, Dale Murphy (what is it with those fucking Braves?) and Craig Biggio. When considering popups, are catchers rated on "range factor" too? It is important. While, as was noted, few catchers miss many popups. But there is a disparity in distances they have to run in vatious ballparks. it used to be over 50 feet to the backstop in Forbes Field (Pittsburgh) and the foul territory in Oakland is huge. Getting to a popup is therefor more important than being able to catch it. Range factor would be informative here. As for being able to throw out runners, some catchers had the misfortune to be the receiver for staffs that were terrible at holding runners close or were breaking ball pitchers. If you have three starters who allow the runner an additional first step or two, or the ball doesn't get to them quickly, they probably won't have a high success rate, no matter how good their arm. Finally, wrt the comment above about backing up first on infield grounders - maybe Mike was running down the line just as hard as Grote. It (to paraphrase a Tom Seaver line) just took him longer to get there. Later

They don't need greatdefensive players atthe other three infield positions because of all the ground Jeter covers. (high SC score) Later

Yancy, I think I heard that it will be everything except Mets games. I wonder what kind agreement they had to work out with the YES network, which televises the M&MD show. This means that all those people outside of the WFAN and YES areas will now be able to listen to them. Why would anyone want to pollute the air in those parts of the country? Somebody please call the EPA. LAter

Great post. Lots of info there. I just had time to scan the first linked article. I'll replace this post with some comments after I've had some time to read it more carefully. But I just wanted to give you some kudos. Later

One of the baseball "specialists" on ESPN radio (Buster Olney?) said yesterday that 9 of the 10 best teams this year are in the American League. He didn't say which NL team makes his list. Do you agree? Later

="Edgy DC"]You forgot the "baybeeee." Waitaminnit! Someone in New York uses that line? That's Dick Vitale's trademark. You just stirred up another controversy, Edgy. AND I predict that today Massive Mike will set an all-time sportstalk record for the most callers cut off in mid sentence. A bully like him hates to be shown up as being wrong and/or laughed at. My guess is today's talk will be steered in the direction of the Masters. Later

Elster88 wrote: That's exactly the point of the text you quoted. It's not necessarily true, but it can be true. That's what the poster was trying to say. Yes. I was using a non-baseball example to show that. I didn't saythe person who said it was wrong. (Oh, shit, I knew I should have stayed out of this. Just trying to be helpful.) Later

I've stayed out of this so far. But ]Then if LoDuca is above average and better defensively than Piazza, then Piazza can be considered average. This caught my eye. It is not necessarily true, from either a logic or mathematical standpoint. Using a non-baseball example I'm 6'1" tall The average height of an American male is 5'10" tall. So, I'm "taller than average" I'm taller than Fred. Fred is 5"7" tall. He is not average. Only if Fred were 5'10" tall would he be "average". Later

Nady 2 Glavine 2 Lo Duca 2 Wright 2 Wagner 2 Later

"New York, New York" Just to piss off the Yankees and the shill talk show hosts even more. Later

Massive Mike (Francessa) came on the Joe Beningo show on WFAN today, and Mike was literally screaming about how this is a personal affront to both Rivera and Yankee "tradition". Of course, its been said that the difference between an opinion and a prejudice is that you can defend an opinion without raising your voice. I wonder if anyone has asked Mariano how he feels about this? Later

With a lot of last round cuts, that squad should be playing in a AAAA League. Later

Edgy, check out Niese. Reports when they signed him said he had a good major league future. Later

Mike Who? Cameron has reportedly started the season on the DL. Nady goes 4-4. Later

Energetic defense. Later

Tremendous home run to the opposite field by Wright. Later

Scintilating performance. Later

Johnny Dickshot wrote: Half of baseball is 90% deception. Thank you Yogi Berra (sort of). Later